


Scenes from Dunwall

by andrastes_grace



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Xenophobia, Coincidences, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Gossip, Slice of Life, Tea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:36:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29656968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andrastes_grace/pseuds/andrastes_grace
Summary: A (mostly) canon compliant retelling of Dishonored from the POV of a group of characters who have limited to zero idea of what is actually going on, but somehow keep getting involved in each mission.It's crack and I'm treating it seriously.(Title has been changed from Scenes From The Estate District to better reflect the story)
Relationships: Corvo Attano & Emily Kaldwin, Corvo Attano/Jessamine Kaldwin, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Scenes from Dunwall

There is the gentle trickle of pouring tea, the clink of spoons delicately stirring and the low sound of an unobtrusive music audiograph.

And, cutting through that, a voice.

"Honestly, I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner,"

A second voice:

"Quite so! Quite. So." The second voice is similar to the first, as the two speakers are sisters. "Honestly, I've heard the most wicked stories about Serkonans. So wild and passionate!"

"They are!" The first voice replied, "And our dear Amelia has actually met the man. Tell us, Amelia dear, was it terribly frightening?"

Amelia dear had not looked up from her teacup, as if she was fascinated by the the substance the sisters had assured her was the finest Morley tea. She was thinking:

"You call me 'dear' as if you haven't spent the last year snubbing me and politely implying my entire family slept their way into a personal visit from Empress Jessamine. And I'm trying desperately to remember if we were ever actually friends or if we've been pushed together for 25 years because your family and my family are the right sort of people. Which is just a polite way of saying the Lowoods have an old name and can claim a distant relation to the Kaldwins but you're flat broke so you're willing to overlook the fact that the Vanderlys have only had money for 3 generations and all four of our parents are hoping I'll somehow fall in love with your disgusting brother. And that if you had really wanted to meet the late Empress perhaps your father should've spent his time researching the rat plague and cutting his own wages to keep his factories running and workers paid instead of sitting on his increasingly expanding rear end and complaining about how the poor and sick are ruining Dunwall."

However, these were not pleasant or appropriate things for a well brought up young woman to say so Amelia Vanderly pushed those thoughts down, looked up from her tea at Eliza and Georgiana Lowood, smiled a small, faint smile and said,

"The Empress came to meet with my parents. I barely spoke to her or the Lord Protector."

"Lord Assassin, you mean!" Eliza, the first speaker, shrieked. Her eyes were alight with the scandal of it.

"I heard he once threw one of the Pendletons out of the tower for simply looking at the Empress too long!" Georgiana said, with the air of someone imparting a great secret and not regurgitating old gossip.

"So violent," Eliza said, and made a show of shuddering, "How the Empress, may her soul rest for eternity, could stand to be near him I simply have no idea,"

"And just think, three years ago you were making inquiries about Lord Attano's marital status," Amelia did not say, and she swallowed down those words with a sip of the truly disgusting tea and continued to smile politely.

"I heard he and the Empress never spoke. She would just point at whoever she wanted killed and it was done!" Georgiana said. "Anyway, Amelia, darling. Surely you must have something you can tell us. Something deliciously shocking."

"A woman was murdered two days ago and her daughter abducted and all you care about is ghoulish details about a man I barely met to shock your friends with at your next dinner party when the only thing you'll ever need to shock people is to serve them some of this liquid you claim is tea!" Had she said any of that she would, to emphasize her point, thrown the teacup on the ground. But she didn't, so she couldn't.

"I'm sure I told you all about it when it happened. There's really nothing to say." she said, pretending to look apologetic.

"I know you did, darling. But, my dear, with hindsight and the knowledge of the awful things he did there must be something new for us."

"I wasn't even supposed to be introduced to the Empress," was the way Amelia could've begun her story. "I was planning on hiding in my studio while my parents entertained her and young Lady Emily but I emerged at the wrong moment and found my parents pushing me forward. I was still holding a drink when I met her, and Lord Attano was standing by her side. I was so flustered I couldn't remember if I was supposed to bow or curtsy so I tried to do both at once and dropped my drink. He, Lord Attano, caught it before it hit the floor and handed it back to me with a bow. I was rather trapped into the tea and conversation after that. While my parents made polite conversation with the Empress, Lady Emily seemed to be fighting the urge to fidget and yawn. She and the Lord Protector made faces at each other when no one was looking but I saw them. I suggested that Lady Emily might like to see my greenhouse and studio and when Lord Attano came to collect her after the conversation was done he nodded to me which I think was a thank you. Furthermore, he and the Empress never said a word to each other the entire time they were visiting but I rather got the impression they had known each other for so long they didn't need to speak to each other." She said absolutely none of that because she was sure neither of them would listen.

"He was very tall," she offered them, almost as an apology, and continued to force down the tea.


End file.
